The  Case  of  Northern  Epii  is 

By   N.   J.  CASSAVETES 

Director  of  Pan-Epirotic  Union  in  America 

The  author  of  this  article  is  Director  of  the  Pan-Epirotic  Unions  an.  organiza- 
tion for  making  known  the  aspirations  of  the  Greeks  of  Epirus.  He  presents  here 
the  Greek  side  of  the  case,  backing  up  the  clai7ns  laid  before  the  Peace  Co  inference 
by  M.  Venizelos. 


IN  1913  the  Greek  Army  occupied 
Epirus  as  far  north  as  Chimara, 
Korytza,  and  Lake  Ochrida.  Mme. 
Jeanne  Leune  and  M.  Kene  Puaux, 
both  correspondents  of  the  Temps  of 
Paris,  bear  witness  that  the  people  of 
Epirus  received  the  Greek  forces  with 
enthusiasm  as  liberators  and  brothers. 
M.  Puaux,  who  is  now  in  the  Cabinet  of 
M.  Clemenceau,  in  his  book,  "  La  Mal- 
heureuse  Epire,"  extols  the  Hellenic 
sentiment  of  the  Epirotes  and  appeals  to 
France  to  lend  her  influence  for  the 
union  of  Epirus  with  Greece. 

Italy  and  Austria,  covetors  of  Albania 
and  Epirus,  sent  an  ultimatum  to  Greece 
to  withdraw  her  troops  from  Northern 
Epirus. 

At  the  Ambassadorial  Conference  of 
London,  in  1913  two-thirds  of  Epirus 
was  annexed  to  the  Albanian  State.  In 
1914  the  Greek  troops  began  to  evacuate 
Northern  Epirus,  despite  the  universal 
entreaties  of  the  Northern  Epirotes  to 
stay.  No  sooner  had  the  Greek  Army 
departed  than  the  inhabitants,  Christians 
and  Mussulmans,  broke  out  into  revolu- 
tion and  defeated  the  Moslem  Gheghs 
of  the  Prince  of  Wied. 

Colonel  Murray  of  the  British  Army 


made  a  tour  of  three  months,  and  cov- 
ered most  of  Northern  Epirus.  His 
lectures  on  "  Northern  Epirus  in  1914 " 
gave  proof  that  the  Northern  Epirote 
revolution  was  spontaneous  and  against 
the  will  of  M.  Venizelos.  The  enemies 
of  the  Epirotes  have  attempted  to 
diminish  the  significance  of  this  outbreak 
of  national  aspirations  by  stating  that 
the  Greek  Government  suborned  the 
Epirotes  to  revolt;  but  the  Governments 
of  Italy  and  Austria,  the  principal  par- 
ties interested  in  an  Albanian  Northern 
Epirus,  have  officially  admitted  that  the 
Government  of  Greece  acquitted  itself 
honorably  in  the  case,  fulfil 'ing  e'«  ery 
stipulation  of  the  Conference  A  LondoV 
The  Epirotes  rose  unassisted  and  f'.Higlr 
for  their  rights  and  liberties  uniii  even 
the  Triple  Alliance  was  forced  to  recog- 
nize in  1914,  in  the  Protocol  of  Corfu, 
the  autonomy  of  Northern  Epirus  ar' 
the  Greek  character  of  the  Epirotes. 

Arnold  Toynbee,  in  "New  Eiv  :pe " 
and  in  "Greek  Policies  Since  1882," 
writes:  "They  are  Greeks,  like  any  one 
else,  but  some  of  them  happen  to  speak 
Albanian.  *  *  *  The  Epirote  has  be 
come  Greek  in  soul.  Hellenism  and  na- 
tionality have  become  for  him  identical 


ideas,  and,  when  at  last  the  hour  of  de- 
liverance struck,  he  welcomed  the  Greek 
armies  that  marched  into  his  country 
from  the  south  and  from  the  east,  after 
the  fall  of  Jannina,  in  1913,  with  the 
same  enthusiasm  with  which  the  island- 
ers of  Crete  or  of  Chios  welcomed 
them." 

Rene  Puaux,  in  "  La  Malheureuse 
Epire,"  says:  "  It  was  a  travesty  of  jus- 
tice to  put  the  Epirotes  at  the  mercy  of 
the  Moslem  majority  on  the  ground  that 
they  happened  to  speak  the  same  lan- 
guage. To  surrender  to  an  artificial  Al- 
banian people  which  differs  from  the  Al- 
banians in  language,  in  civilization,  in 
religion,  and  in  aspirations  is  a-  crime. 
All  Epirus  from  Cape  St.  Basil  to  Cape 
St.  John  is  absolutely  Greek;  and  their 
friends  and  relatives  constitute  the  intel- 
lectual and  plutocratic  aristocracy  of 
Athens  and  Patras." 

The  Turkish  census  of  1908,  previous 
to  the  first  Young  Turk  Parliamentary 
election,  gives  the  population  of  Epirus 
as  31-1,000  Greeks  and  176,000  Alba- 
nians, Turks,  and  Jews. 

There  are  in  Epirus  950  elementary 
Greek  schools,  with  28,820  pupils;  three 
colleges  for  boys,  (Jannina,  Konitza,  Ko- 
rytza;)  and  one  college  for  girls,  (Jan- 
nina;) 2,000  Greek  churches;  189  Greek 
monasteries — all  self-supported  and  en- 
\  ;d  by  Epirotes  who  have  made  for- 
um ;  abroad. 

Korytza,  the  city  which  the  Albanians 
)efer  to  as  the  centre  of  Albanian  cul- 
ture, maintains  one  Greek  college  for 
boys,  with  100  pupils;  one  Greek  girls' 
high  school,  with  750  girls;  two  Greek 
kindergartens,  with  700  children.  In  all, 
in  a  city  of  25,000,  there  are  2,200  boys 
and  girls  attending  Greek  schools,  where 
instruction  in  Greek  is  given  by  ten 
professors,  fifteen  male  and  fourteen  fe- 
male teachers,  and  four  kindergarten  in- 
structors.   The  total  appropriation  made 


by  the  city  for  this  instruction  was,  in 
1914,  70,000  francs. 

In  the  District  of  Korytza,  with  a 
Christian  population  of  over  43,000,  there 
are  maintained  120  Greek  schools,  with 
180  Greek  teachers  and  12,500  Greek 
pupils  of  both  sexes.  The  Albanians 
have  in  Korytza  only  one  girls'  school, 
with  forty  girls. 

The  Epirotes  support  the  school  by 
local  taxation  and  through  the  endow- 
ments of  rich  Epirotes,  like  Baron  Sinas, 
who  acquired  his  wealth  in  Vienna  and 
left  his  millions  for  Greek  schools  at 
Korytza  and  for  the  erection  and  main- 
tenance of  the  splendid  academy  at 
Athens.  John  Bangas  of  Korytza,  who 
died  twenty  years  ago,  left  2,000,000 
francs  in  the  National  Bank  of  Greece, 
and  from  the  interest  on  this  money 
20,000  francs  yearly  are  used  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Greek  College  of 
Korytza.  Anastassius  Adamides,  like- 
wise of  Korytza,  has  built  the  Church  of 
St.  George,  has  founded  and  endowed  the 
two  high  schools  for  boys,  and  has  es- 
tablished a  drug  store  where  the  poor 
citizens  of  Korytza  get  medicines  gratis. 
He  also  has  left  in  the  National  Bank 
of  Greece  large  sums  of  money,  the  in- 
terest of  which  is  used  to  enable  poor 
and  deserving  Greek  girls  of  Korytza  to 
marry  with  a  dower.  Other  public- 
spirited  citizens  of  Korytza  have  per- 
formed similar  services.  What  has 
prompted  these  benefactors  to  leave 
their  fortunes  for  Greek  culture,  unless 
it  be  their  Greek  conscience  ? 

But  the  Epirotes  have  not  made  Epirus 
alone  a  country  where  Greek  letters  and 
Greek  learning  are  intensely  cultivated. 
They  have  endowed  Athens  with  the 
Academy,  with  the  Rhizarion  Theological 
Seminary,  with  the  Arsakion  College  for 
Girls,  (where  3,000  Greek  girls  receive 
higher  instructions  each  year.)  The  Ob- 
ser-vatory  at  Athens,  the  National  Grovk 


University,  the  Polytechnic  Institute,  the 
Military  Academy,  the  famous  Greek 
Stadium,  the  modern  Prison  of  Averoff, 
the  battleship  Averoff,  the  Zographion 
at  Constantinople,  (a  Greek  college,) 
and  other  princely  gifts  are  the  contribu- 
tions of  Epirotes. 

Amadori  Virgili,  an  Italian  officer 
charged  with  the  task  of  organizing 
Italian  propaganda  in  Epirus  in  order  to 


Albanicize  tht  Epirotes,  wrote  in  1908  in 
La  Questione  Rumeliota:  "The  Chris- 
tians hate  the  Albanian  language;  the 
Mussulmans  do  not  care  for  it  at  all." 
M.  Puaux  wrote: 

"  The  Epirotes  are  more  Greek  than 
the  Greeks  themselves."  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  this  intensely  Hellenic 
province  will  be  ultimately  united  with 
Greece. 


MAP    OF    GREECE,    INCLUDING    EPIRUS— AT    THE    NORTHWEST    CORNER.      THE    •  ' 
AREA  INDICATES  THE  TERRITORY  INHABITED  BY  GREEKS.     THE  WHITE  LiXE 
SENTS  THE  GREEK  CLAIMS  PRESENTED  BY  MR.  VENIZELOS  AT  PARIS  AND  THE  bi.j 
AREA   LANDS   WHERE    THE   GREEK   AND    TURKISH   RACES    ARE    IN    EQUAL   NtMBL  . 


Caylord  Bros. 

Makers 
Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
PAT.  JAN.  21,  1908 


